Drug Enforcement Administration

Vermont Man Sentenced To Three Years In Federal Prison For Illegal Firearms Dealing

HARTFORD, Conn. - John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Kyle Farace, 26, of Brattleboro, Vt., was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 36 months of imprisonment for dealing firearms without a license. Farace also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and perform 150 hours of community service after his release from prison.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on at least three separate occasions between April and June 2011, Farace, who is not a licensed firearms dealer, transferred five firearms to someone he believed to be a convicted felon and who resided in a different state.

It is a violation of federal law for a person to engage in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, to sell firearms to a convicted felon, or to transfer a firearm to a person residing in a different state.

On January 6, 2012, Farace pleaded guilty to one count of dealing in firearms without a license. When he pleaded guilty, Farace also admitted that he illegally possessed and distributed marijuana in April and May 2011.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hartford Police Department, the East Hartford Police Department and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. The ATF and DEA in Burlington, Vt., the Addison (Vt.) Sheriff’s Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont assisted the investigation of this matter.